August 7, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Although the Boy Scouts of America recently reaffirmed a policy against having open homosexuals as members, at least some local councils say they don’t consider the policy actually binding on their own operations. A Catholic parish in Minnesota was recently blindsided when they learned the Boy Scouts’ reputation for Christian conservative values didn’t bear out in the case of their local Council, which declared last month that it would continue admitting individuals who were openly homosexual. “Every council is reflective of their community,” said Kent York, spokesman for the Twin Cities-based Northern Star Council, Minnesota’s...

A spokesperson for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has advised that the former Massachusetts governor disagrees with the Boy Scout’s current policy prohibiting open homosexuals from serving as members and leaders. According to The Associated Press, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul told the news outlet in an email that Romney still stands by his beliefs that homosexual men should be able to serve in the organization. She specifically noted that Romney had outlined his views in 1994 during a political debate, and that his stance has not changed. “I support the right of the Boy Scouts of America to decide what...

For nearly a century, the Boy Scouts of America has relied on a confidential blacklist known as the "perversion files" as a crucial line of defense against sexual predators. Scouting officials say they've used the files to prevent hundreds of men who had been expelled for alleged sexual abuse from returning to the ranks. They've fought hard in court to keep the records from public view, saying confidentiality was needed to protect victims, witnesses and anyone falsely accused. "It is a fact that Scouts are safer because the barrier created by these files is real," Scouts Chief Executive Robert Mazzuca...

NEW YORK (AP) -- For the physician in Illinois, the attorney in Kentucky, the arts editor in Oregon, their Eagle Scout medals were treasured reminders of youthful achievement. Yet each is parting with his medal out of dismay over the Boy Scouts' recently reaffirmed policy of excluding gays. ### In contrast to Obama, Republican candidate Mitt Romney does have a public position on the Scouts' policy -- he politely disagrees with it. Back in 1994, during a political debate in Massachusetts, Romney said this: "I support the right of the Boy Scouts of America to decide what it wants to...

Earning the rank of Eagle Scout is an arduous task, requiring dedication and hard work. Returning the award was equally difficult for Steven Colella, 23, of Frederick, but it was a necessary one, he said. Colella, who is gay, made his decision in response to an announcement this month by The Boy Scouts of America affirming its policy of "not granting membership to open or avowed homosexuals." “I have no place in that organization. I knew it was the right thing to do for me,” Colella said. Colella, who has spent 18 years in the Scouts, sent a letter to...

One hundred years ago on Aug. 1, Arthur Eldred, a 17-year-old Boy Scout from Long Island, became the first person to earn the Eagle Scout rank. Eldred, tall, quiet and with a shock of dark hair, had joined scouting largely at the behest of his widowed mother, who hoped it would give some structure to his life. Yet as Eagle Scouts would continue to do throughout the next century, Eldred caught the scouting world by surprise. He was the first of an extraordinary new cohort of young men who were to prove very different from the classic 13-year-old Boy Scout...

Tension over the Boy Scouts of America's anti-gay policy reached the Sacramento region this week after 10 members of an area summer camp staff walked out in response to the firing of a gay staff member. Local BSA officials said the young man was fired not because he is gay, but because he failed to heed repeated requests to dress appropriately for camp. Specifically at issue were his painted fingernails and earring, although one senior official said there were also complaints about his mannerisms and behavior. . . On the other side, Randy Thomasson, president of the website SaveCalifornia.com,...

The leading candidates in Washington's tight gubernatorial race both issued statements opposing the Boy Scouts of America's recent decision to retain a policy prohibiting gay Scouts and leaders. Democrat Jay Inslee and Republican Rob McKenna both chastised the organization for the announcement that their secret committee unanimously refused to change the discriminatory policy.

SALT LAKE CITY — A former Boy Scout leader and hospital employee will go to prison for collecting and making child pornography. Third District Judge Robin Reese on Monday sentenced Shawn Thomas Whiting, 34, to a one- to-15-year prison term on four second-degree felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. Whiting pleaded guilty to the charges in April. He originally faced a total of 20 counts of the same charge, but the 16 additional counts were dismissed in exchange for the man's plea. Reese ordered the man to pay for the cost of counseling for his victims. The Utah...

Once again CNN is cheerleading the fight for gay rights, this time within the Boy Scouts. An effusive Starting Point panel welcomed gay activist Zach Wahls on Wednesday and celebrated his cause of pushing the Boy Scouts towards acceptance of openly-gay scouts and leaders. Wahls is no stranger to CNN, as back in May he was lauded as a "very powerful" activist during a soft interview. On Wednesday, the CNN panel oozed admiration for him. "I'm a big fan. I've followed you for a little while," Starting Point regular Margaret Hoover told him. "You're a wonderful spokesman for the effort...

Freedom not to associate is an important American rightIn the Boy Scout oath, a young man promises to keep himself morally straight. Despite pressure from homosexual activists, that pledge will continue to mean something. On Tuesday, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) announced that they would retain their policy excluding homosexuals from membership and leadership positions. The announcement followed a two-year review by a select committee, which came to the unanimous conclusion that it was “absolutely the best policy for the Boy Scouts.” The rule had come under fire from homosexual groups recently after Jennifer Tyrrell was forced out of...

LGBT advocacy groups are continuing to pressure Boy Scouts of America, which applies a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on sexual orientation of its youth members and its adult leaders. This morning, a press release from change.org landed in our in-box announcing that Jennifer Tyrrell, a gay mom who was removed as a den leader by the Boy Scouts of America, will deliver 300,000 petition signatures to the Boy Scouts of America’s national headquarters. The petition calls on the Scouts to reinstate her and end their policy prohibiting gay scouts and scout leaders. Deron Smith, a Boy Scout spokesman, said...

<p>NEW YORK (AP) — After a confidential two-year review, the Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday emphatically reaffirmed its policy of excluding gays, ruling out any changes despite relentless protest campaigns by some critics.</p>
<p>An 11-member special committee, formed discreetly by top Scout leaders in 2010, "came to the conclusion that this policy is absolutely the best policy for the Boy Scouts," the organization' national spokesman, Deron Smith, told The Associated Press.</p>

NEW YORK (AP) - After a confidential two-year review, the Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday emphatically reaffirmed its policy of excluding gays, ruling out any changes despite relentless protest campaigns by some critics. An 11-member special committee, formed discreetly by top Scout leaders in 2010, "came to the conclusion that this policy is absolutely the best policy for the Boy Scouts," the organization' national spokesman, Deron Smith, told The Associated Press.

One 14-year-old is using Independence Day to become both an Eagle Scout and to show respect toward the stars and stripes. Bryant Pyle will be collecting worn and tattered American flags to retire properly on Labor Day. The process will advance Pyle, who has been a Boy Scout for six years, from Life Scout to Eagle Scout. "My grandpa served in two foreign wars, Vietnam and Korea, he has a lot of respect for the flag," he said. "He would get mad seeing tattered flags being flown." Pyle learned appreciation for the flag through his grandfather, and Eagle scouting from...

Gay rights activists say actor Chuck Norris is a "fame-hungry has-been" with a double standard: Norris is accusing President Obama of trying to promote a gay agenda within the Boy Scouts of America, yet has not criticized Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for saying gays would be welcomed within the scouting organization. Norris wrote an opinion piece this week blasting President Obama and portraying him as a puppet master working behind the scenes to create a "pro-gay Boy Scouts of America" and promote an increasingly pro-gay agenda. In response, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation issued a statement calling...

“Either resign from the Scouts’ Executive Board or stop undermining the BSA with your pro-homosexual advocacy” Ernst & Young CEO Jim Turley is seeking to apply his corporation’s pro-homosexual ethos to the Boy Scouts. TAKE ACTION: 1) Contact the Boy Scouts of America [972-580-2000; 8:00 AM-4:30 PM Central Time] and commend them for not giving in to pro-homosexual activists by retaining their “morally straight” policy against open homosexuality in the Scouts; and 2) Contact Jim Turley through Ernst & Young [Contact Page HERE; or, through their global site HERE], and urge him to stop his campaign to turn the Boy...

Real-life action figure Chuck Norris is blasting President Obama for allegedly working behind the scenes to create a "pro-gay Boy Scouts of America." Norris -- an action star and well-known conservative and gun-rights activist -- made the charges in a piece posted Tuesday on Ammoland.com, a site dedicated to shooting-sports news. Norris suggests that Americans take a closer look at the recent headlines made when James Turley, a Boy Scouts of America national board member, announced that he will work from within the scouting organization to change its long-standing position barring gay Scouts and gay Scout leaders. Turley is also...

Officers arrested a 20-year-old Boy Scout leader at his Shingletown home Thursday for allegedly sexually assaulting a 13-year-old at the Butte Meadows Scout camp over the last two years. Dustin Hedrick was booked into the Butte County Jail in Oroville on suspicion of six counts of forcible lewd acts on a child younger than 14 and one count of electronic communication with a 16-year-old with intent to commit sexual acts. His bail was set at $465,000. Butte County sheriff's deputies served a search warrant at Hedrick's home Thursday and arrested him. Investigators are still reviewing evidence that is mostly electronic,...

A Boy Scouts of America national board member, James Turley, who is also global chairman and CEO of the accounting firm Ernst & Young, recently said he “will work from within to seek a change” to overturn the BSA policy that bans gay scouts and leaders. But is Turley working on his own initiative, or has the White House prodded him with perks and favors? Is it a coincidence that Turley came out swinging against the BSA’s century-old policy to ban gays from leadership and that he has such close affiliations with the pro-gay Obama administration? Is it a coincidence...

Jennifer Tyrell, a 32-year-old Bridgeport, Ohio “mom,” was well aware of longstanding Boy Scouts policy forbidding homosexuals from serving as troop leaders. Nevertheless, the lesbian took a position last year as den leader of her 7-year-old son’s Cub Scout pack. In April, Tyrell was ousted from the post after being informed by the Boy Scouts of America that she “did not meet the high standards” of moral behavior it expects of both adults and boys associated with the 102-year-old organization. Now the gay-rights activist is waging an online campaign to pressure BSA’s Board of Directors to rewrite the organization’s rules...

The Oregon Supreme Court's decision Thursday to approve the release of 20,000 confidential Boy Scouts of America documents will give the public its deepest look at people flagged by the organization as suspected child molesters and show how Scouts kept them out of leadership. The ruling also could make it easier for other secret Boy Scout files to be used in pending and future lawsuits from former scouts who claim they were molested by troop leaders.-SNIP-The Oregon files, gathered from 1965 to 1985, came to light when they were used as evidence in a lawsuit in 2010. A jury...

A high-profile member of the Boy Scouts of America's governing board says he doesn't support the Scouts' policy of excluding gays and will work from within to seek a change. Ernst & Young CEO James Turley, whose accounting firm has welcomed gays and lesbians in its own work force, becomes the first member of the Scouts' Executive Board known to publicly disapprove of the policy.

The Boy Scouts of America is considering a resolution that calls for ending a 102-year-old policy they’ve grappled with in recent years: banning gay scouts and scout leaders, gay advocates told msnbc.com on Wednesday. Though the organization said it would review the proposal, a spokesman insisted there were no plans to change the policy. The new policy would throw out the national ban and allow local chartering organizations to decide whether or not they would accept gay youth and leaders, said Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout who has advocated for the change, citing unidentified people who attended the group's national...

The Boy Scouts of America is considering a newly-proposed resolution that calls for ending a 102-year-old policy they’ve grappled with in recent years: banning gay scouts and scout leaders, gay advocates told msnbc.com on Wednesday. Though the organization said it would review the proposal, a spokesman insisted there were no plans to change the policy. The new policy would throw out the national ban and allow local chartering organizations to decide whether or not they would accept gay youth and leaders, said Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout who has advocated for the change, citing unidentified people he spoke to within...

As support for gay mom and former Boy Scout troop leader Jennifer Tyrrell contines to pour in from across America, it's important to reflect on those who have been saying all along that moms like Jen should be allowed in the Boy Scouts. Including Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who said in a 1994 debate: “I believe that the Boy Scouts of America does a wonderful service for this country. I support the right of the Boy Scouts of America to decide what it wants to do on that issue. I feel that all people should be able to participate...

Travel is a hassle for an 8-year-old Cub Scout from New Jersey. That's because Mikey Hicks shares the same name of a person who has drawn the suspicion of the Homeland Security Department. His mother tells The New York Times she sensed trouble when her son was a baby and she couldn't get a seat for him at a Florida airport. She says airline officials explained his name "was on the list." He was patted down as a 2-years-old at Newark Liberty International Airport.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The city must pay nearly $900,000 after a failed effort to evict the Boy Scouts of America because of the group's ban on gays, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. The post-trial ruling is just the latest twist in a decade-long legal dispute over the Boy Scout oath, which requires members to be "morally straight." The two sides have sought a compromise that would let the local Boy Scouts chapter keep its rent-free, city-owned headquarters without violating the national Scout policy. However, a tentative deal struck since the city lost a court case last year has fallen apart....

Philadelphia owes the Boy Scouts $877,122 after failing to evict the organization from its headquarters over the group's anti-gay policies, a judge ruled... Mayor Michael Nutter called the court order "a significant expense" but stressed the city remains opposed to the Boy Scouts' national policy

A human skull found by two teenage Boy Scouts in a lake has sparked off a police investigation - who believe it may belong to a small child. Hollywood police say divers spent Monday morning searching Oak Lake Park, looking for bones and other evidence. Spokeswoman Lt Diana Pereira says that so far they haven't found anything after the two 15-year-olds found the skull over the weekend.

Dept Of Justice ^ | January 06, 2012 | U.S. Attorney’s Office Western District of Michigan

GRAND RAPIDS, MI—Scott Allan Herrick, 40, of Twin Lakes, Michigan, was sentenced to serve 95 years in prison, U.S. Attorney Donald A. Davis announced today. Herrick surreptitiously videotaped boys as they were dressing in the boys’ locker room in the YMCA in Muskegon and kept a massive collection of 100,000 images of child pornography with him at the Gerber Boy Scout Camp in Twin Lakes, Michigan. He was convicted at trial of three counts of attempting to produce child pornography. On the first day of trial, Herrick pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing child pornography and one count of...

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A Portland man is urging people to boycott the Boy Scout Christmas tree recycling program to challenge the organization's position on gay rights. Richard Kuhns posted flyers throughout the Laurelhurst neighborhood where he lives, complaining of the Boy Scouts’ national stance against gays. Local Boy Scout leaders said the tree recycling program has traditionally been one of their biggest yearly fund-raisers. Boy Scouts of America issued a statement Thursday that said in part, "The BSA recognizes that some do not agree with its position on this single issue, but values the freedom of everyone to express their...

Boy Scout/Cub Scout Charter Discussion Bob Casey—Pack 303, Britt Kennedy-Troop 303, Brad Schnell, PTO liaison, and Joe Mueller from the Greater St. Louis area council represented the Boy Scouts and answered questions. PTO members checked in at the door and received a blue card to be exchanged for a written ballot. The voting process was explained. Issues: Executive Committee role in supervising scouting activity and concerns if this is the role of the PTO. Boy Scouts/Cub Scouts are the only organizations that the PTO charters. Issues were brought to the Exec Council this summer and the PTO Exec council did...

GRAND RAPIDS -- Former Massachusetts governor and Michigan native Mitt Romney said Thursday night it "breaks my heart to see this state having so much difficulty in so many places." Romney, speaking to hundreds at the Boy Scouts of America Gerald R. Ford Council's Building Character Celebration Dinner, said he has a better idea for leadership. "I'm convinced that if Boy Scouts were running things here in Michigan, you'd be a lot better off," Romney said to hefty applause at DeVos Place, 303 Monroe Ave. NW.

Remember the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah? Of course, that was what helped put Mitt Romney on the map nationally and internationally. Financially, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) was deep in the hole. Then the bribery scandal surrounding the bid hit the news in a big way. The foundering committee turned to Mitt Romney, a guy with a great track record in turning around failing businesses. Romney came in and made everything better than even the most optimistic had hoped. The games went well (except for the ice skating scandal) and made money. Romney, who had previously failed in...

PORTLAND, Ore/SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Four Oregon men sued the Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday for $20 million over childhood sexual abuse they say they suffered at the hands of a pedophile knowingly appointed as their scoutmaster in the 1970s. The four lawsuits, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland, accuse the national Boy Scouts and its Cascade Pacific Council of negligence, fraud and sexual battery of a child in connection with the repeated molestation of the men, then aged 12 to 15. The suits, each seeking $5.2 million in damages, are the latest in a barrage of...

It is a pocket of rural America that has changed little in a century and is about as far removed from the bustle and marble monuments of Washington DC as one could imagine. But Paint Creek, where ranches and wooden homes, some now abandoned, are dotted beside cotton and wheat fields, is the place that defines the man who some Republicans believe could unseat President Barack Obama next November. Governor Rick Perry was part of the fifth generation to work the land at Paint Creek, some 200 miles west of Dallas on the flat expanse of plains known as “the...

SAN DIEGO, CA -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry told a Boy Scouts ceremony on Wednesday that the federal government is rudderless, kicking off a trip to California that has stoked speculation that he will enter the Republican contest for president. Perry fondly recalled his boyhood as a Scout in Texas, including his first visit to Washington, and applauded the group for promoting values such as fellowship, self-reliance, dedication and perseverance. "I really wish we saw more of that sort of courage throughout our society, yep, including in Washington, D.C.," he said. Perry didn't mention President Barack Obama or any politician...

Something has been bugging me for years. You know, like everyone over 50 knows who Gladys Knight is; but what is a “pip”? The school in my neighborhood told the Cub Scouts this week that their flyer cannot be distributed because it mentions God in the 12 core values. While this constitutional misstep is unseemly, it is somehow made worse when contrasted with the always-welcome creed of environmentalism. Like any normal American, I appreciate living in clean, healthy surroundings. But the green movement went past the point of preachy years ago. Environmental respect advanced from the “don’t be a litterbug”...

A former Oxnard man has filed a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, alleging he was sexually abused more than two decades ago by a Scout leader who was active in the church. Filed in Ventura County Superior Court, the suit alleges the organizations knew or should have known the alleged abuser posed a risk. It also claims they failed to prevent abuse. Building largely on a Portland, Ore., sexual abuse case in which the Boy Scouts of America was found negligent last year, the suit says the Oxnard troop...

The Green Mountain Council of the Boy Scouts of America has decided to honor Sen. Bernie Sanders as Citizen of the Year. I attempted to email the Green Mountain Council a copy of The Senator from Antipathy, an article quoting Sen. Sanders' own words from his memoir, "Outsider in the House" . The email from the Scout's website refused to receive it, saying "possible offensive words found in the message text". I then tried to send it from my own email address. Again, it was rejected. The message stated: "A recent e-mail apparently sent by you contained words or phrases...

PORTLAND — A Scouts leader in Portland subjected a boy to hundreds of instances of fondling, sodomy, oral sex and masturbation in the 1980s, even though Scout and Mormon Church leaders had been warned for years that the man was an abuser, a suit filed Tuesday alleges. SNIP The victim, Clark said, is a member of the armed forces, in his mid-30s who is “emotionally shut down” and trying to come to terms with the abuse, Clark said. He has a history of troubles with relationships and authorities, Clark said. SNIP Clark said church leaders who sponsored Scout troops were...

Parenting boys can be tough. From sexually provocative media, to the influence of bad boy athletes and self-indulgent celebrities, to violent video games… the cultural undertow exerts a powerful pull in the wrong direction. When looking for alternatives, parents like Angela and Ty, who both work full-time while raising three boys, feel overwhelmed at times. Angela observes. “It’s hard to know what’s going to benefit our guys in the long run…and be something they like.” Their vision is to raise boys who will become strong, Godly men of character, with inquisitive spirits and service-oriented hearts and the self-discipline and drive...

Buena High School JROTC cadets place wreaths at grave markers on Saturday. (Ty Holland • For the Herald/Review) SIERRA VISTA — A year ago, when just 242 holiday wreaths were laid on the graves of veterans in Sierra Vista, a group of local women thought those who served this country deserved better, and they decided to do something about it. On Saturday morning, each and every one of the nearly 1,400 graves at the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery was adorned with a touch of red and green as a result of their effort.

"On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to obey the scout law, to help other people at all times, and to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."These are the words of the Boy Scout oath. Recited at scout meetings across the nation, every week for the past 100 years, this is an important moment when boys aged 10 to 13 raise their right hands and promise to serve both God and country. I was a scout myself and believe that the Boy Scouts is the only...

SUSQUEHANNA - Ira Reynolds, who joined the Boy Scout movement in 1914 - when it was just 4 years old - was laid to rest early Thursday afternoon. About 50 youths from Boy Scout Troop 81 and Cub Scout Pack 81, thrust three fingers in the air and in unison cited the Scout pledge and oath just moments before Reynolds' casket was lowered at Evergreen Cemetery. The 108-year-old Reynolds was the nation's oldest Boy Scout when he died Nov. 13, and Thursday he was remembered by Scout executive Art Worrick as the embodiment of the oath. "The boys who encountered...

In shopping around for a Cub Scout program for their two sons, ages 6 and 8, Jeremy and Jodi Stokes decided on the one at Christ Covenant Church in Matthews. The Stokes, also of Matthews, weren't members of the evangelical megachurch, but they had many friends who were. And unlike the Cub Scout pack at their own church, which doesn't have a program for 6-year-old Tiger Scouts, Christ Covenant's was big enough to accommodate both of their boys. The couple even signed up to be Scout leaders - he would lead the Bears, she'd help with the Tigers - when...

What would we do without the heroes in the Keene Police Department? Thank goodness they are here to keep us safe from the criminal Cub Scouts selling us cotton candy and the volunteers at the Hundred Nights shelter selling us baked goods! Here’s the news story from the Sentinel. I heard there was video taken, but I haven’t seen it pop up yet. Many businesses and nonprofit organizations name Pumpkin Festival as their most profitable selling day or fundraiser. But a few fundraisers were cut short by police and festival organizers. Police shut down three vendors for operating without permits...

EL PASO — Fernando Espinosa always thought of his Boy Scout experience as a way to learn about leadership and helping others. But he never expected his 10 years of scouting to help him become a hero. On Jan. 22, without thinking twice, Espinosa pushed teacher Glenda Tanner, 47, out of the way of a car at a crosswalk in front of Franklin High School. The car struck Espinosa, who received a head injury from the windshield and hurt his left knee. ... For his bravery, Espinosa, 17, will be awarded the Honor Medal with Crossed Palms on Friday at...